mullet
/ˈmʌlɪt/
"mullet" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“mullet” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #30,147 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #30,147
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 15
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A fish of the family Mullidae (order Syngnathiformes), especially the genus Mullus (red mullets or goatfish).
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | mullet |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈmʌlɪt/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #30,147 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 15 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “mullet” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for mullet is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈmʌlɪt/. Corpus data places it at rank #30,147 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for mullet, with forms such as "mlulet", "mmullet", and "mulelt". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 15 confusable-pair relationships, "muppet", "musket", "mule", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English molet, mulett, from Old French mulet (now ‘grey mullet’), from Latin mullus (“red mullet”), from Ancient Greek μύλλος (múllos). The correct English form is mullet, spelled M-U-L-L-E-T.
Definition
- 1A fish of the family Mullidae (order Syngnathiformes), especially the genus Mullus (red mullets or goatfish).
- 2A fish of the family Mugilidae (order Mugiliformes) (grey mullets).
- 3Any of several species of freshwater fish in the sucker family (especially in the genus Moxostoma, redhorses)
Etymology
From Middle English molet, mulett, from Old French mulet (now ‘grey mullet’), from Latin mullus (“red mullet”), from Ancient Greek μύλλος (múllos).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: mlulet,mmullet,mulelt,mulet,mullett,mullte,umllet
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of mullet - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “mullet”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-U-L-L-E-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈmʌlɪt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “muppet” - see the side-by-side comparison. mullet vs muppet
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.